It's a quiet street, a nice, tree-shaded street - and it could be anytown
USA. But this postcard is a view of 2nd Avenue looking east from 11th
Street as it appeared at the turn of the 19th Century. In some way, it's a
strange choice for a postcard - mostly trees and paving, it's not
particularly picturesque. Only one building is even recognizable, the
corner house at 1103 2nd Avenue. We can't imagine this postcard appealing
to too many people - except for the owner of 1103. But we like it because
it allows us to retell a story about the house and its inhabitants.
An 1857 map shows a building on the northeast corner of what was then called
Illinois and Swan Streets (The names weren't changed to 2nd Avenue and 11th
Street until 1876). It may represent this house as its Italianate
architecture was the most popular style of the 1850s. It is a simple
house, characterized by a low hipped roof. It appears to be frame, rather
than the brick that was used so frequently in Rock Island for Italianate
homes. Illinois Street was a premier location, and other homes in the area
were much more ostentatious than this relatively modest dwelling.
The first owner we have any information about was Major General William
Hoffman and his wife. Hoffman was a West Point graduate, a scion of a
military family. His father, too, graduated from West Point. Maj.Gen.
Hoffman had four brothers who were all army officers - and his sisters
married army officers as well. After serving in the Blackhawk, Mexican, and
Civil Wars, he retired to Rock Island in 1870, possibly because his wife was
a member of the prominent local Buford family.
He purchased the house at 1103 and began calling himself "Professor." He
was the principal (and perhaps the only) faculty member of an "Institute for
Young Ladies," about which nothing is known. Hoffman died in 1884 at the
age of 76, but Mrs. Hoffman remained in the house for another few years.
The next owner of the home was L. E. West. West was an entrepreneur's
entrepreneur. Self styled as the "Hustler" he operated a factory at 1510-12
2nd Avenue (next door to the old post office) called the L. E. West Gum
factory. An early street scene shows the factory building, covered with a
huge painted sign saying "Chew Black Joe and White Sue Cream Gum."
West's advertisements in city directories didn't mention chewing gum, but
rather cigars, coffee, baking powder, and advertising items - an eclectic
mix to say the least. When a fire destroyed the third floor of his factory
in 1920, a stove spark was blamed for igniting the lacquer used to paint
pencils. An Argus Town Crier article on Mar 24, 1943 featured a story on
Mr. West who, at age 89, still hadn't retired, and told how he got started
in business - by writing and publishing sheet music in the 1890s. A real
hustler and opportunist was L.E. West.
Mr. West had a daughter named Ruth. Ruth mailed our postcard to one of her
school chums in 1907, inviting her to a Literary Society meeting with an
informal reception for the high school teachers, to be held at 1103 2nd
Avenue. Ruth was probably about 16 at the time. We hear about Ruth again,
in another Town Crier of July 19, 1951. Now Mrs. C. M. Rogers of Chicago,
she has two letters signed by President Abraham Lincoln. One letter
discusses the possibility of a military promotion, the second says only "Let
Mr. King bring the papers of Lewis B. Dougherty."
And how did Mrs. Rogers acquire those papers? She found them years ago,
hidden in a metal box that was concealed behind a removable stone in the
basement of 1103. The speculation is that they were hidden there by Maj.
Gen. Hoffman, since the details of the promotion letter are compatible with
Hoffman's 1865 promotion. But who is Lewis B. Dougherty? What has happened
to those letters since 1951? And could there by more letters secreted in
hidden cubbies in the basement of 1103. We will never know the answers to
the last question. Major General Hoffman's house is gone, its site now part
of the embankment of the Centennial Expressway.
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